Legal Question in Civil Litigation in North Carolina

That is a good question. There is a case in North Carolina which has been cited for the proposition that a corporation can appear in court (or file a document constituting an appearance) so as to avoid a default judgment, and based on that authority a LLC can probably file its own answer. This law is, however, not entirely clear, and there is no guarantee that this existing case would be applied in other cases. The safer course would be to have a lawyer prepare the answer, to ensure that it is in compliance with the rules regarding the unauthorized practice of law; and also of course because it will be a more effective document and the LLC might need legal representation at some point anyway.

Considering that an attorney must take any actions to actually represent the LLC in court after the answer is filed, it is safest to have an attorney actually file the answer. The answer is no good if the other side moves for summary judgment or a trial is scheduled and you have no attorney to represent you.